A Winter Tale

Chapter One: The Arrival

It's 5 am. Aubrey wakes up to the amusing sound of her alarm clock, playing "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera.

Her morning ritual is rather challenging to complete in an hour and half but she managed to take a shower, choose an outfit, tweet about how she's feeling, eat an apple and brush her teeth. She was able to do all of that before she was running late, yet she still needed to pack her bags, because she forgot to do so the night before.

She left the house at 8 o'clock, an hour and half later than she was supposed to. You may be thinking "This girl is a mess, she forgets everything, and an hour and half is not what being "fashionably late" means." Well, you may be right, but she has a lot on her plate. Let me tell you a little bit about Aubrey.

She's 23, she's in college studying Psychology but she's currently home and about to go to an anual family reunion in their family house up in the mountains. She has three siblings, Easton, who is 17, Morgan, who is 15 and Tom, who is 20.
She has light brown hair and dark honey colored eyes, she's 5'4 and her favourite color is black.

As the older sister, all responsabilities ended up on her shoulders so Aubrey was constantly overwhelmed by everything.
She needed to leave the house early so she would be the first to arrive on the mountain top so she could prove that she is responsible, but she was late, very late.
Lucky for her, Tom was the only one there. Her relationship with Tom was very caring and meaningful, they were only three years apart and he was her first born sibling.
Tom was very sweet even when he was a teenager, he would always look out for his big sister anyway he could.
When he was 16 he told Aubrey he was gay, wich only made them a whole lot closer and they became inseparable ever since.
By the time he was 18 he had already come out to the entire family, and most of them accepted him, except for their maternal grandparents.

It's now 10 am. Aubrey's parents arrive in their light grey Mercedes, Easton and Morgan came with.
Mr.&Mrs. Lowell were two very respected lawyers that had even dealt with matters of the state.
They always dreamt of their kids following their footsteps but, that didn't go as planned, Tom was studying to be an actor, Easton was probably going to get a football scholarship, Morgan wanted to be a detective and Aubrey, as mentioned, was studying psychology.

- Hello. - said Aubrey.
- Hi, how are you? - said Mrs. Lowell.
In the meantime, Morgan ran and jumped onto Tom's arms, she liked him a lot, he was always very kind to her and he never yelled.
- Did you have a safe trip? - Aubrey asked.
- Yes, how about you two?
- Yeah, it was great, Aubrey arrived before me though, she even set the table already. - said Tom proudly.
But those were lies, their parents were always extremely strict towards Aubrey, so Tom helped her out all the time, mostly with lies, but Aubrey didn't mind it, she appreciated everything her brother did for her.
Two hours later, dinner was ready and everyone sat at the table.
- Morgan let go of your phone. - said Mr. Lowell strictly.
- So, Aubrey, you've been so distant lately, how's life? Any significant others?
- Omg mom, please, you know I don't like to talk about it...
- Just because one boy broke your heart in 11th grade doesn't mean you will never love again!
- It hit deeper than just a normal breakup mom..
Right now, the environment is tense, you could cut it with a knife, and everyone is praying that Mrs. Lowell doesn't spill the last drop...
- It was just a stupid children's play honey, everyone knew it wasn't going to last. Well, everyone but you apparently...
At this point Aubrey starts to unlock "lost" memories she tried to forget but never seemed to succeed as she starts tearing up.
- Mom! - yelled Tom - can't you see that's upsetting Aubrey!? Goddammit, no one tells you that your botox sucks so you could keep some things to yourself as well!
Aubrey leaves the table and Tom follows, Morgan and Easton are surprised and trying not to laugh.